Annotated Bibliography

Freeman, Bill. "PROP. 30 INVESTS IN EDUCATION, ECONOMY." U-T San Diego. N.p., 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/23/tp-prop-30-invests-in-education-economy/>.

California used to have the best school system in the United States.  It was an example for the rest of the other states.  The extracurriculars available were great.  The equipment in the school and programs offered were all new.  Now, the state is in a extreme money deficit and the schools are not nearly as good as they used to be.  The reason for this, according to Bill Freeman, is because we have stopped investing in education as a state.  Over the past four years California has cut $20 billion from the schools and laid off 30,000 employees of the school system.  The state now ranks 48th in teacher to student ratio.  We are now 47th in per student spending, but used to be in the top ten.  Although the state of our school systems has greatly decreased, we can reverse the process and start investing in schools again.  Proposition 30 is a way that we can help this.  Teachers of the state are backing Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed tax increase for the wealthier households and overall increase of the sales tax by a quarter cent.  This is the only measure on the ballot that will stop cuts to the school system and avoid increases in tuition.  The wealthiest will have to pay more for the next seven years which would be an extremely important investment for all of California.  The sales tax would affect everybody, but it would still be cheaper than last year.  Although this measure would not cover all the funding that our schools need, it would be a huge step to saving what is left of our rapidly failing schools system.  Jim Freeman, the author of this article is the president of the San Diego Education Association as well as a third-grade teacher and San Diego City teacher of the year in 2009-10.  He is a very credible source in this issue because he is a teacher in the school system.  He knows what the schools need in order to save them.

"Vote Yes on Prop. 30, No on Prop. 38." San Francisco Chronicle. N.p., 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Vote-yes-on-Prop-30-no-on-Prop-38-3888244.php>.

California has three bad options for this year’s ballot and supporting the school system.  Prop. 30, Jerry Brown’s measure would raise taxes for the rich and raise sales tax across the board,  Moll Munger’s Prop. 38 would raise taxes across the board regardless of income.  The third option would not be passing any of these measures and allow the schools to fall into a greater deficit.  Although the three options aren’t the best, proposition 30 should be passed to save our education.  Molly Munger is a multimillionaire who doesn’t want the taxes to be raised only for the wealthy, so her measure taxes everybody.  Proposition 38 also doesn’t provide any money to the public colleges and universities, only private.  This measure is in the interest of only the wealthiest households in California.  Proposition 30 should be passed to help out our state.  I am not sure about the credibility of the author because it is not posted on the website who wrote it.

RR #1

The introduction of, Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing written by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, presents ideas about our culture and society.  The concept of “cultural myths” is introduced to the readers.  Cultural myths are ideas and beliefs that are ingrained in our brains as we grow up in this society.  Certain things like the “American Dream” make people believe that there is always hope to succeed regardless of the current situation because there is always a chance in America.  Although this has a slight bit of truth to it, the vast majority of people in poverty are not able to beat the system and come out on top.  This is an old idea that has had great staying power because we continue to talk about it.  Cultural myths help us all conform to the same beliefs.  When we all share similar beliefs we don’t easily question them.  As it is put in the book, the myths help us, “make sense” of the functions of our society.  The book talks about the need to critically think about and challenge these myths and not accept them as truth before understanding them.  The writing is directed towards college students who are encouraged to take different perspectives and approaches to these accepted ideas of our society.  They say that the reason cultural myths have so much power is because they become a part of our thinking before we are even aware that they exist.  From the time we are toddlers these ideas are part of our upbringing and we can’t tell a myth from the truth.  This information is being written in order to bring awareness to us as students and as a society.   We need to be conscious of our subconscious thoughts that have been ingrained in our heads since we were little.  Even if we aren’t going to challenge the myths we must, at least, become aware of them and critically think about them.

The authors of this section use Logos or, Logic, as the main appeal for their argument.  The reader is encouraged to critically think by, “getting outside your own skin and seeing the world from multiple perspectives”.  This is presented as a logical idea because we are not exercising our ability to think critically and it only makes sense to examine our thoughts and processes.  On the other side of the argument, they say how it makes sense that these myths exist.  They have existed in other cultures for example, Ancient Greece, in order to give reason to their societal ways of life.  It is normal to have certain uniform beliefs throughout a society but it doesn’t make sense to accept them as true and not challenge them at all.  The authors make it seem like an unintelligent idea if you are not challenging ideas that you have always believed.   I agree with the ideas presented in the introduction of this book.  It is true that we need to always be aware of what we believe and to critically think about our daily beliefs so that we don’t live unconsciously.

HW #1

1. I think that “Para Teresa” was written in both English and Spanish in order to help deliver a stronger message.  The combination of both languages makes the poem seem more real and it helps give a better idea of the situation and the characters.  The poem has a strong theme about ethnicity and what it is to be true to your roots.  The girls are fighting about giving in to the American system or rebelling and not letting the system take over.  The use of Spanish and English shows that Ines is able to succeed in the American system and still be true to her roots.

6. The article that I read on proposition 30 talks about its status and likeliness of being voted on.  The article first gives a brief overview of what the proposition will do if it is voted for.  The proposition, put forth by governor Jerry Brown, will affect the income taxes of wealthier people in California and also temporarily raise the sales tax.  The money that this is proposed to make would support higher education in California.  If the measure doesn’t pass, the University of California, California State, and California community colleges would receive a cut of $963 million dollars in January. If this did not pass the already extremely underfunded school system would get cut a lot more.  In a recent poll, the measure currently has the support of 55 percent of California voters.  35 percent are opposed and 10 percent are still undecided.  Analysts say that the support may weaken come election time.  There are anti-proposition campaign ads on the television and radio that may help sway voters against the measure.  In my opinion, I believe this would be a good measure for California.  The school system throughout California has been receiving budget cuts for years now and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.  Although I don’t believe our school system is the best, it is necessary to keep affordable for people with a range of incomes.  Education should be available to anybody that wants it, yet the budget cuts would definitely make that more difficult.  I believe that it is alright to impose a higher tax onto people with extremely high incomes.  Although there is always a lot of resistance, it seems fair that the people with the most money have to pay more to help the public.  They are still far wealthier than the majority of the country.  It would be completely worth taxing the people with higher incomes to help save the funding for the state education system.  If the funding for schools continues to get cut year after year, the quality and accessibility of the schools will greatly diminish.  The increase in the sales tax is only slight, at a quarter of a cent, and I don’t believe that that would make much of a difference either.  After learning about this proposition, I definitely want to vote for it and get people to learn more about it so they can support the California Higher Education system.

Prop 30 Article URL

http://chronicle.com/article/Support-Remains-Soft-for/133908/